Tuesday, November 18, 2014

It's happening.

This post has been on our Twitter for precisely 1.42857 weeks now. You may have been wondering what it means. Today, we're going to tell you a little bit about it.

Fighting is Magic is currently in the process of being moved to another engine. We'll get into the nitty-gritty specifics about the engine at a later date, though. Speaking of later dates... do we have a release date? Nope. We were closer to one in FM2K, but FM2K had its limitations, and that really bothered us.

So, about three months ago, we started some side projects. Boom. Now we have a stage and an Applejack test. Our new engine allows 3D objects to be incorporated into the game's development. It's much easier to work with than FM2K's system of stage layering, and produces a buttery-smooth, more realistic playing experience.

This is a sample of what stages look like in the new engine. Obviously, this isn't what you'd see in the actual game unless you manage to break it somehow.

Now, to you, the game will look much like the image to the right. Or. to be more precise.. the one under it. Except without the weird looking test UI.

It's still 2D, but with much better layering.

These 3D objects open up a whole new set of doors to what we can accomplish with this game. For example, we could easily incorporate proper lighting and effects for GUI and menus. We're also planning to change the window size and resolution. The game's current resolution is a measly 800*600 pixels; while the stages, and characters will all stay the same, the graphical interfaces will be bigger and sharper.

Since the new engine can also support PNG importing, the graphics will be FAR better than what they were. We're in the process of reanimating all the moves as of now, and have a fair chunk of Applejack moves down, as her aerial heavy is shown on the left.